It's that time of year when the American Institute of Architects reveals the winner of the AIA Gold Medal, which honors an individual's outstanding body of work that has influenced architecture theory and practice. For 2017, the Medal was awarded posthumously to architect Paul Revere Williams, the first African-American recipient. Williams passed away in 1980.
LAX Theme Building.
A trailblazer throughout his career, LA-born Paul Revere Williams was the first black architect to join the AIA and to be elected to the Institute's College of Fellows. He designed over 2,000 homes and commercial buildings around LA and abroad, including affordable homes for new homeowners, the glitzy abodes for his celebrity clients, and infamous icons like the LAX Theme Building (1961) and his renovation of the Beverly Hills Hotel (1949).
Having to deal with racial obstacles, Williams is also known for developing the ability to draw upside down to accommodate white clients who might not have wanted to sit next to him. Eight of Williams' buildings have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Paul Revere Williams' drawings.
El Mirador Hotel remodel. Photo: Julius Shulman.
Beverly Hills Hotel Renovation.
“Our profession desperately needs more architects like Paul Williams. His pioneering career has encouraged others to cross a chasm of historic biases,” wrote William J. Bates, FAIA, in his support of Williams' Gold Medal nomination.
Guardian Angel Cathedral.
LA County Courthouse.
La Concha Motel, Las Vegas (now the Neon Museum).
Phil Freelon, Managing and Design Director at Perkins + Will, presented to the AIA Board of Directors on behalf of Williams. “It’s been many decades but Paul Williams is finally being recognized for the brilliant work he did over many years,” Freelon said in an AIA press release. Williams will be honored at the 2017 AIA National Convention in Orlando.
Previous AIA Gold Medalists include Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi (2016), Moshe Safdie (2015), and Julia Morgan (2014) — who also won posthumously as the first female recipient.
All images courtesy of the AIA.
8 Comments
A giant in our field, and a prolific trailblazer with an amazing body of work. Also named to the city's first planning commission in 1921.
Long, long overdue recognition with this award. He didn't design the LAX Theme Building, however.
Excellent news!!!
Mastering the skill of drawing upside down just so you don't embarrass your clients having to sit next to a black man, that's just heart braking.
citizen, he's listed as being part of a joint venture on LAX?
Remember when Paul McCartney was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Stella McCartney wore a shirt that said "About Fucking Time" to the ceremony? That's what this feels like. Good job, AIA, for taking the last few years of Gold Medals as an opportunity to make up for past mistakes.
I'm confused about the point of the AIA Gold Medal. Is it to push forward design trends (current architects), or is it an award to revise historical or social narratives? Not saying either is invalid, but maybe split it up into two?
Maybe they are ceding the progressive title to pritzker. But it's a strange place for AIA to be... given their troubles politics and general ineptitude. Maybe they should just stick to their strength, keeping architecture irrelevant.
*questioning the validity of the ethnicity claim. He looks 7/8 German even sans the mustache.
Really? Is that Trumpian humor, or are Donald Drumpf?
@citizen LAX Theme building was apparently "designed by a team of architects and engineers headed by William Pereira and Charles Luckman, that also included Paul Williams and Welton Becket."
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